Shield Crash

Pangolier jumps in the air and slam back to the ground, damaging all enemies in a radius. For each enemy hero hit, he gains a percentage of incoming damage reduction for a short time.

Video: Valve

Inflicts 75/150/225/300 damage

Damage reduction per hero hit: 8%/10%/12%/14%

The duration of the reduction is 10 seconds at all levels

13 seconds cooldown and 90/10/110/120 mana cost

Shield Crash makes Pangolier a viable initiator as hitting five heroes will grant him a 70% damage reduction. Even when you are playing as a carry, the extra survivability will be handy during a teamfight.

Heartpiercer

Pangolier reads his enemies perfectly, deftly slipping his blade past defenses. Each attack has a chance to negate enemy armor and slow the target for a duration, activating after a short delay.

Video: Valve

It can be activated by Swashbuckle

Pierce chance: 15%

Movement slow: 35/40/45/50

Debuff delay: 2 seconds

Heartpiercer is a slow that also negates the enemy armor. The 15% proc chance is sufficient to inflict extra damage in teamfight.

It is strong in the late game against heroes that stack up armor. In the early game it will be less efficient if compared to items and abilities that can reduce a hero’s armor to negative numbers.

Rolling Thunder

Video: Valve

Pangolier curls into a magic-immune ball and rolls out. When rolling, he moves at an increased speed and can move through trees, but has a decreased ability to turn. Striking enemies knocks them back, inflicting damage and stunning them when they land.

Requires 1.2 seconds to transform in a magic-immune ball

Roll speed: 550/575/600

Radius: 100

Stun duration: 1/1.25/1.5

Knockback distance: 150

Duration: 6/7/8

Damage: 200/250/300

50/45/40 seconds cooldown and 100 mana cost

Colliding with a wall will cause a temporary pause while Pangolier reverses in direction

Rolling Thunder is a multi-purpose ability with a very low 40 seconds cooldown once maxed.

You can use it to escape from a nasty situation, thanks to the extra movement speed and the magic immunity.

In teamfight you can sow the chaos in the enemy formation, chasing the poor supports, stunning and knocking back any hero. Finally, Shield Crash also works while transformed, and if you don’t have survivability issues I suggest using it prior the end of the transformation.

Talent Tree

I think that the -12 seconds cooldown reduction to Rolling Thunder is quite strong. The ability already has a very low cooldown, so the talent will give you two uses of magic-ball in each minute of time.

Vincenzo is an esports writer with five years of experience. Former head editor for Natus Vincere, he has produced content for DreamHack, FACEIT, DOTAFire, 2P, and more. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.